


to love is to prank

by BrenH



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Pranks, the rest of the mn are here too but... less relevantly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-03-24
Packaged: 2019-11-29 05:16:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18218714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BrenH/pseuds/BrenH
Summary: Jester fakes a gasp and pouts. “Beau… you could not hate little old me? It was just a prank, the Traveler thought it was funny!”“Uhuh, I’m sure he did. I’m gonna get you back for this.”or the one where Jester pranks Beau until she tries to get her back with some questionable results.





	to love is to prank

**Author's Note:**

> this takes place at no point in particular in canon... not the point in time at current but it isn't meant to be outside of canon

Beau never regretted choosing to room with Jester. Not when they had first met and Jester would pester her with questions and chatter on excitedly well past when they needed to sleep. Not when she had been woken up in the middle of the night by Jester’s sniffling and soft sobs, and she’d gone over and tucked her in properly to remind her that she wasn’t alone. Beau had never been good at comforting people since she’d never gotten much comfort herself. It was the least she could do. She wished she could do more for the only best friend she’d ever had.

She hadn’t even regretted it when she felt the first telltale pain in her chest—it wasn’t jealousy, it  _ wasn’t _ —when she realized that Jester really,  _ really _ liked Fjord. No, she’d never once second-guessed her decision, and she’d come to find comfort in the soft snoring of Jester in the bed across from hers, in knowing that if the day had been long and hard she could crawl into Jester’s arms no questions asked, in knowing that she loved Jester and Jester loved her too. 

She did, however, think that she let Jester think she could get away with way too much around her. 

Usually, she woke up long before Jester. A small piece of her monk training she was glad she didn’t shake off when she started on her adventure with the rest of the nein. Usually, she’d wake up to Jester’s soft snores, get herself washed up, dressed and ready for the day before she’d lightly shake Jester awake and do her morning stretches while Jester got ready so they could go get breakfast together. 

This morning, Beau must have slept longer than she had intended to, it was the first time she’d been able to sleep in an actual bed in weeks and she had wanted to enjoy it while it lasted. When she wakes up the room is quiet, and rolling over she sees Jester’s bed, a mess of sheets, and no tiefling in sight. Beau had sighed, kicking the covers off of her and quickly pulling herself together to head downstairs on her own to meet with the rest of the party for breakfast, feeling only slightly disappointed that Jester hadn’t waited for her, or at least woken her up.

Beau ambles downstairs to see only half her friends sitting at a small table downstairs, meaning maybe she didn’t sleep in as much as she thinks she did. At the table sits Fjord, Caleb, and Jester idly chatting, while Jester sits beside them visibly bouncing and giggling, looking over at the stairs every few seconds until she sees Beau and waves grinning widely. Beau gives her a small but confused wave back as she makes her way over to them, Jester’s commotion drawing their attention to her. And it stays on her. 

Caleb stares at her in his usual deadpan sort of way, but Jester’s giggling becomes louder, and Fjord raises an eyebrow grinning. Caduceus looks towards her and tilts his head at her, smiling in his gentle but confused way. “Uh… morning,” Beau starts, gaze flicking between each of them, “Is there something on my face or something?” 

Caduceus opens his mouth first, but Fjord is the first to say anything. “No, no, it’s just that uh…. Your makeup this mornin’ is different… it’s good, really reflects your personality I think.”

“Ja,” Caleb agrees across from him, still staring at Beau with that almost smile but giving her thumbs up, “Ja, I think it is an improvement from your usual ah… look.”

She hears a soft “oh” from Caduceus but it’s soon covered up by Jester’s excited voice. “You look  _ very _ pretty this morning Beau! Sit down, have some breakfast!”

Beau squints at each of them in turn, momentarily stuck on Jester’s excited grin, before focusing on Caduceus’ calm expression. “What do you think about my uh….  _ makeup _ , Cad?”

He makes a questioning sound before looking at her again. “Oh, right. Lemme see, I think I have something for this.” He goes digging into a pouch at his waist, pulling out a large diamond. “Ah, this’ll work.”

Caleb and Fjord make some protesting sounds as he passes it over the table to Beau, both frantically looking around to see if anyone notices the giant diamond being passed around like it’s nothing. Beau hears Jester start to chime in too with a “Technically we should not be just, like,  _ throwing _ diamonds around all willy nilly, you know, but I think it will be okay this one time because it is funny.”

Beau stares at her reflection in the diamond, a tiny little distorted reflection of her usual face, only with a big blue dick painted on it. Really it’s a wonder she couldn’t feel the itchiness of the dried paint on her cheeks. As she stares at herself she vaguely hears Caduceus say something about how he isn’t  _ throwing  _ the diamond around but she ignores it. She nods her head a few times before chucking the diamond at Fjord’s head. “I hate all of you.” 

Jester cackles and Fjord ducks out of the way before scrambling to pick up the diamond. “Hey! I’m not the one who did it!” Caleb smiles slightly and Caduceus chuckles softly as he watches everyone else react.

“Yeah well… Fuck you, anyway!” Beau replies eloquently, rubbing slightly at her face. “You were gonna let me stay like this anyway. And you were too!” She reaches over, punching Caleb in the arm, probably a lot harder than necessary if the way he nearly falls out of his seat is any indication. “All of you suck and I hate you. Except Caduceus.” 

“Aw, thanks.”

Jester fakes a gasp and pouts. “ _ Beau _ … you could not hate little old me? It was just a  _ prank _ ... the Traveler thought it was funny!”

“Uhuh, I’m sure he did.” Beau glares at each of them before reaching over to grab bacon off of their plates and shoving it all into her pockets. She walks backward away from the table, back to the stairs, pointing at Jester the whole time. “I’m gonna get you back for this.” 

Jester beams at her and waves as Beau leaves to wash her face. Beau’s pretty certain she says something as she goes, but she’s too busy scheming to catch it.

* * *

It wasn’t often that they came across a tavern with a room for washing up in that was even semi-decent. It was small, with a fairly small washbasin with lukewarm water at best, but it seemed to be clean enough, and the water switched out often enough. Besides, after another week of travel and grime, Beau would have settled for a bucket of dirty water, so this was practically luxurious. 

She’s in the middle of washing mud, dirt, and grime out of her hair when she hears the door creak open and shut and the rustling of fabric behind the privacy screen. Her immediate thought is of how irritating it’s going to be having to fight with her hair wet and in her face, least of all without having any clothes on before she hears a familiar giggle. “Oopsies, sorry Beau! I did not realize you were in here, I’ll just wait my turn.” 

Beau sighs in relief, turning and craning her neck to try to get a glimpse of her friend over the screen. “I’ll be done in just a bit Jes, just… knock next time you know.” 

She hears Jester try to muffle another giggle as she opens the door again. “Will do Beau! Enjoy your bath.” 

The door closes, and Beau huffs out a laugh of her own at her friend’s enthusiasm as she finishes rinsing her hair and doing one last scrub down. She steps out of the tub, wringing out her hair a few minutes later. She blindly reaches for where she knows she left her clothes only to find nothing there. Shoving her hair out her face, Beau sees the clothing left for her and feels her face start to flush. In place of her usual wrappings and monk attire, is a frilly pink dress she knows she’s seen Jester wear before. 

Beau paces back and forth in front of the door, still naked, staring at the offensive garment sitting there. She briefly considers just walking out without it, maybe she’d be fast enough to get to their room without anyone seeing, maybe there’s no one in the hallway at all. At that, she stops her pacing, leaning her ear against the doorframe only to hear unfamiliar voices on the other side and she curses. Maybe if it had been Caleb and Nott she could just glare at them and no one would ever speak about it, but she has no idea who the people in the hallway are, nor how long they’re going to stay out there. 

The worst part of it all is that even though she’s angry at Jester for this particular prank, she isn’t angry enough to do anything drastic. She  _ could _ rip off the frills and the sleeves, do something, anything, to make the dress more suitable, but she knows that this is one of the few dresses Jester brought with her on her travels, and that she really does love it. So, Beau swallows her pride, compensating with thoughts and plans for revenge, and begins to struggle her way into the garment. 

The first problem that becomes apparent is that pink is definitely not Beau’s colour. The second is that while Beau is and has been aware that she’s more than a few inches taller than Jester, she never thought that it would matter outside of her own private thoughts and that the dress is uncomfortably short on her. What probably reaches just above Jester’s knees, is riding high up on Beau’s thighs, and even higher if she moves her arms in any direction. 

She’s sure she looks like an absolute mess. 

Steeling herself, Beau exits the room with her arms glued to her sides, gripping the skirt tightly, desperately trying to keep it from rising too high. She staunchly refuses to even look at the direction of the people still chatting in the hallway, making a beeline for her and Jester’s room. She’s so engrossed in her mission to just make it to their room so she can change and then maybe yell at Jester, she doesn’t hear Fjord’s voice on the other side of the door until she’s already slammed it open.

“... don’t see why we can’t discuss this without—Oh, Beau there you. Ah.” 

Beau’s glare zeroes in on Jester in the middle of the crowd of  _ every single one of their friends _ . Beau watches as her entire face lights up and she brings her hands up to cup her cheeks. “Oh, _ Beau _ , you look absolutely  _ beautiful _ . Pink is just  _ so _ your colour! Don’t you all agree?” 

Beau’s bounces along each of them, daring them to say something, anything to her right now as she stalks into the room. Caduceus gives Beau a knowing smile and says nothing, Fjord opens his mouth to give some smartass comment but quickly shuts it and looks away. Caleb is the first to speak after Jester’s request.

“My arm is still bruised from the other day, so I will be taking my leave now. Goodnight.” He walks straight past Beau and out the door without ever making eye contact. She hears him say something to the people in the hallway, and Beau hopes they leave too.

“I think you look lovely,” Nott tells her earnestly.

Beau grits her teeth against the urge to snap at Nott, knowing she means it genuinely regardless of if Beau wants the compliment. “Thank you Nott, but I think Caleb had a point,” she says through her gritted teeth. “Everybody. Get. Out.” 

Caduceus chuckles and pats her head on the way out, and Nott follows him, waving goodbye to Jester as she leaves. Fjord walks out last, and Beau releases the skirt of the dress for just long enough to jab him in the kidney.

“Ow! Hey, I didn’t  _ say _ anything!” Fjord grunts, ducking out the door. 

“No, but you thought about it,” Beau grumbles, slamming the door shut in his face. She whirls around to see Jester still smiling and giggling to herself and decides better than to say anything. She sees her clothes neatly folded on her bed and she stomps over to get changed into them.

“Oh, Beau, you did not need to be so mean to Fjord! He was just going to say how pretty you looked!” Jester says from across the room. Beau staunchly ignores her. “Beauuuu… Come on… Don’t  _ ignore _ me…” Beau feels Jester walk up behind her and she quickly moves out of the way. When she speaks next she can hear the pout in her voice. “It was just a joke… I really do think you looked really pretty in my dress!” Beau climbs into her bed, pulling the covers up over her head, her hair still wet against her scalp. “Beau it isn’t time for bed yet silly.” After a few more moments of silence Beau hears Jester sigh, and thinks for a moment she’s gonna drop the conversation before she starts singing. “ _ Beauuu… please speak to meeeeee… I miss your voooice… _ ” She feels Jester sit on the edge of the bed, not touching her still, but her warmth is seeping through the blankets. She just sits for a while, quiet. “Beau… are you for  _ real  _ real mad at me? It’s ok if you are I just want you to tell me…”

Beau considers ignoring her still but knows that that wouldn’t be fair to Jester. “No.” Her voice is muffled by the blankets, by the pillow she has pressed to her face. “Don’t think you’re safe though, I’m gonna get you. Right when you least expect it.”

Beau grunts when Jester all but falls on top of her, hugging her through the layers separating them. Beau can nearly feel her breath on the back of her neck through the covers when she giggles, saying that she’s looking forward to it. 

* * *

This time, this time Beau has no intentions of letting Jester’s prank go. She said she’d get back at her over the dick and she never did, but this time she means it. Considering the crowd Jester had amassed for her last prank at her expense, Beau doesn’t think that getting Nott in on her own prank is out of bounds. Even if Nott doesn’t realize she’s in on it. All she was really doing anyway was passing along a fake message to Jester saying the Fjord wanted to get dinner with just the two of them but had to run out before she woke up so he couldn’t tell her himself. 

Beau had to get Nott to do it for two reasons. The first being that Nott so desperately wanted to help get Jester and Fjord together, and would be much more convincing to Jester than Beau, especially because Nott didn’t realize it was a lie. The second was that Beau knew she wouldn’t be able to be very convincing because even thinking about the two of them together made her stomach curl. She wanted her friend to be happy, but that uncomfortable jealousy remained. 

It wasn’t until around an hour before Fjord and Jester’s supposed “date” that Beau realized that maybe this prank was a little more mean than funny. Maybe she really isn’t cut out for this whole playful pranking business after all. “No wonder the Traveler doesn’t talk to  _ me _ .” She mutters to herself as she runs around trying to gather supplies. She’d already borrowed candles from Caleb, meaning she grabbed them out of his hands and promised she’d give them back later, she’d ran around the whole small town looking for a bakery that would use cinnamon, and had even went so far as to pick up a pair of pretty silver moon earrings that she saw in a store window. Yeah, Beau was really, really bad at this whole pranking business.

Beau hadn’t really specifically cared that the tavern they were staying at really was not an ideal date place until she was the one going on the date. Well, fake date. Regardless, Beau had lit the borrowed candles at the table and wrapped the little box the earrings came in some nice paper. She’d gone to a lot of effort to make sure that even though Jester was bound to be disappointed by Beau being there instead of Fjord, she’d still at least have a nice dinner. Hopefully. 

Beau was checking her reflection in the back of a spoon to make sure she didn’t have anything in her teeth when Jester came downstairs. When Beau saw her she tried to give her the cocky grin that usually came so easily to her, but felt her nerves cracking it at the edges. Jester was going to think she was so stupid for this.

Jester walked up to the table with narrowed eyes, but she couldn’t quite hide her smile. “Beau… what are  _ you  _ doing here… Nott said I had a date with Fjord?” 

Beau cleared her throat and looked away. “Well, you see… I told you I’d get you back for the dress. And for drawing a dick on my face. And probably a lot of other things. So I was  _ going  _ to get you back by making you think Fjord asked you out on a date, but then I thought it was too mean and so I figured that I’d at least be here so it wouldn’t be a total loss and I could at least explain myself…”

“ _ Beau _ you’re rambling, silly.” Jester sat down across from her, planting her elbows firmly on the table and cradling her chin on her hands. “You know, Beau, the first rule of playing a prank is to not feel bad for it. If you do, then the prank is either not good or you won’t let it  _ be _ good.”

Beau snorted. “Well if you wanted to give me tips so I can get you back properly, then by all means.” 

Jester giggled and looked around. “Now that would defeat the purpose and that’s no fun!” Her smile softened when she looked back to Beau. “You know, I am very glad that you are here and not Fjord… I was not looking forward to having to come to this date to tell Fjord that I am not interested.” Beau sat back and blinked at Jester in silence for a moment before she noticed the small package in front of her. “Oh! Is this a gift for  _ me _ ? You shouldn’t have!”

“Uh.. yeah.” Beau could almost hit herself for how dumb she must look right now. “What do you mean you’re glad I’m here? I thought you… you know…  _ like _ liked Fjord.”

Jester gasped as she opened the box, and she quickly started switching out her earrings for the new ones. “Beau these are so pretty… and very me, thank you very much!” She beamed at Beau, finally noticing her confused look. “Oh, yeah well… I  _ thought _ I liked Fjord, and you know he kissed me that one time, but then I thought ‘you know, he is a good guy but he is not who I thought he was and I am not sure I like him  _ that _ much.’ And then I realized that I did not! I liked someone  _ else _ , I just didn’t realize it.”

Beau feels her heart stop immediately. For a moment, she thought that maybe,  _ maybe _ , she could stand a chance, but of course not. Why would Jester want  _ her _ , anyway? “Well? Who is it? Don’t leave me in suspense.” Beau grinned weakly, even though she really didn’t think she wanted to know. 

Jester’s smile turned to something more mischievous as she leaned over the table towards Beau. “You mean you don’t  _ know _ ? I thought it was very obvious.” She paused, tapping her chin thoughtfully. “Though, you thought I liked Fjord, so maybe not. Why do you think I pranked  _ you _ so much, Beau? Did you think maybe I had a reason for it?”

Beau frowned, racking her brain for a clue that she supposedly had. “I thought the Traveler didn’t discriminate against who he pranks.”

Jester giggles, still staring at Beau. “Well no,  _ he _ doesn’t, but  _ I _ do. Sometimes. Not  _ all _ of my pranks are to make him happy, he just likes me causing mischief, you know.” Beau sits back in her chair, nodding but still not really understanding. “Did you ever think maybe I prank you so much because I  _ like _ you?”

Beau blinks in surprise again, opening her mouth to say something about that not being the best way to show your attraction to somebody, but all that comes out of her mouth is, “No.”

“Oh, well, maybe you should think about that next time.” Jester tells her matter of factly as she takes a bite of the pastry Beau had bought for her. “Oh these have cinnamon in them!” Jester exclaims excitedly around a mouthful before shoving more into her mouth. 

Beau wants to say something to her but finds herself smiling instead. She supposes that neither of them has much experience when it comes to these sort of feelings. She recalls complaining to her mother once that some of the boys her age had been teasing her, and her mother told her that that meant they liked her. She remembers thinking that was stupid, and she still thinks it isn’t a fair way to show feelings, but she can make this one exception for Jester. Just this one time. 

“Then I guess this is a fairly successful first date even if it wasn’t really meant to be.” Beau laughs from across the table, and she sees Jester’s eyes widen a little bit.

“Beau, you should come up with better ways to tell people you like them than asking them out on a date with someone else,” Jester says sagely, even though her eyes are sparkling with laughter.

“Well, I’ll have to take some pointers from you then.”

After that, they fall into a comfortable and familiar rhythm over the rest of the evening, enjoying their dinner, and glasses of milk on Jester’s end and maybe one too many ales on Beau’s. She thinks it’s okay though because for the first time in a long time Beau feels content and free, and Jester keeps looking at her with such adoration. It makes her wonder if she’d been looking at her like that this whole time, and she just never noticed, or if maybe she did and that traitorous part of her mind that told Beau she was unloveable excused it away.

Eventually, they stumble up to their room. Well, Beau stumbles, and Jester’s there to catch her when she nearly falls. They change into their sleeping clothes, and Jester pulls Beau into her bed with her instead of letting Beau go to her own. It’s not an unusual arrangement, but this time it’s different. This time Beau can appreciate Jester’s warmth, and the softness of her skin, and the closeness, all without feeling guilty for it.

After a while of lying in silence in the dark, Beau whispers Jester’s name, resulting in a quiet and sleepy hum from Jester. Beau pauses for a moment. “Do you really think pink is my colour?”

Jester opens her eyes and smiles softly at her. “Oh Beau, I  _ do _ . Especially when your cheeks go pink.” Beau feels her face flush as she looks away, up at the ceiling while Jester’s laughs disrupt the quiet of the room. “Though, I like you a lot in  _ blue _ , because then we match!” 

Beau smiles softly, pressing a soft kiss to the top of Jester’s head, feeling her strong arms wrap tighter around her. “Yeah, me too, Jes. Me too.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> before anyone tries to make any "well actually..." comments... you can't actually see your reflection in a diamond i came up with and wrote that joke at 3am and i thought it was funny and wanted to keep it


End file.
